Just some election thoughts from brother Tom

I am sharing my brother's post election e-book, as he calls it, because he's far more talented at putting thoughts together intelligently. I voted for Obama. Yeah, I said it. Even though a lot of me does not agree with the democratic party's policies, I knew some kind of change needed to come and this was a good bet. Love me or hate me, I think the voter turnout speaks volumes to the need that the American people have for some kind of change. I never fear the next four years after an election, regardless of the outcome. It is simply another opportunity. Brother Tom's thoughts below are clear, concise, and made me feel a little better about my choice to vote for Obama. Regardless of who you are, what your beliefs are, and who you voted for, it's time to get over the partisan crap and get busy. This is our country, we showed up to vote, and a landslide majority of us chose Obama. That's gotta say something right? So we should support our president elect and our fellow Americans, because we all need to take responsibility for the direction our country is going in. I do not believe that there is a right or wrong way, just different ways.

Oh, If you didn't vote, you don't have a right to bitch or even offer your input, you are not a full member of this society if you cannot perform that simple civic duty once every couple of years. It's your responsibility.

I italicized a portion of Tom's e mail that really spoke to me. This isn't about partisan bashing, or right and wrong. This is truly about making a better country for ourselves and future generations.

----

Hi Family Folk, happy post election day!!

Well, in 2008, we call what happened last night a 'beat down'. And if the 00' and 04' elections, as close as they were, were wide enough margins for a "mandate", then we have what should be known as a "super mandate" from the people of America this time around. While I understand that some of us believe this direction is a mistake, let me offer my two cents as to how you know it is not and that the will of the collective will always eventually trump our individual ideals and selfishness, because it is born out of equality and freedom and not strict ideals and greed. Ideals and greed have always lost in every major civilization in the world's history and as long as people can think for themselves, that will never change.

What do I mean by ideals and greed? Well, something dawned on me in this election cycle that I never had the presence to wake up and realize until now, and that is the fact that as a young republican, I was always thinking of myself first... how policy would affect my business, my finances and 'my enjoyment' of life. My greed was evident and my ideals were... well to be frank, only concerned with me... which is a very pervasive concept in our society. After 9/11, I was ready, like many, to jump to conclusions and bomb anyone who looked at us funny. And I actually believed that terrorists were scary and something more extreme than we've had in the past to worry about, and I actually questioned the Muslim faith... for a short period. Well now, I see that the way I did and most republicans do make decisions is on strict fundamental ideals and old ones at that, that only apply to them. The irony being that those ideals affect others who don't share them, like myself. Rather than belabor the point, I'll sum it up with one comment that I'll never forget, coming from a good friend a few years ago... I asked her about her political preferences and she responded "I'm a democrat, but I'm republican when it comes to money". It took me a full decade after that statement, though it stuck with me, for me to actually accept that this view was also my silly view and that it could also apply to religion, our society, and different beliefs about specific policies like the drug war, death penalty and abortion. The point is that making that analysis and decision is 100% selfish. The problem with this type of selfish thinking and all other forms of strict interpretation is that it always, I repeat, ALWAYS, stifles the freedoms of others who don't share that same view. And what I realized, a now declared independent, once staunch republican and now proud supporter of Obama, is that the Republicans are always pushing an agenda of fear, separation and dirty politics without any regard for the fact they are excluding half the nation, and in this election we saw first hand just about every night, lie after lie, with no shame about their efforts. While on the other side and in the middle the Democrats and Independents are constantly fighting for equality and freedom and to get out from under the stifling policies of the current Republican party. Republicans say let the free market fix everything... that's funny... because what they are really saying is "everyone for themselves". Which is precisely why the republicans want less regulation of the financial markets, so that the rich can keep getting richer and the poor can keep struggling... because again, they aren't concerned with anyone who doesn't share their ideals and greed. It bears mentioning that the Republicans didn't always use to be like this and in fact, it was refreshing to finally here some pundits talk about the truth about some of Obama's policies, lowering taxes and foreign policy statements and liken them to being moderate and conservative. I was pulling my hair out at the repeated lies about Obama's conservative principles and that type of politics, blatant lies, has stained the republican party in my eyes. And all the talk of Socialism and those fear tactics was deplorable. If Obama's moderate platform he ran on is Socialist, then under that rational we've been a communist country ever since putting in a progressive income tax system, "social" security, and medicare. Gimme a break!

In all honesty, the real reason I wrote this email is not to simply bash republicans, but to congratulate those who voted for Obama and extend an open hand to those that didn't. I could really care less about the two parties or their future, it's just easiest to paraphrase views into the two different camps. The future of our country will depend on the resolution of issues, not the see-saw back and forth of "my way, your way", which never solves the problem and keeps us as a country yo-yo'ing back and forth. Let's get together, solve some problems on major issues and get on with it. I don't know about you all, but I'm sick and tired of wars, taxes, division and greed at the expense of the rest of us. Hey, I want financial independence like the next guy, but I also don't like to look around me and see that I'm doing ok and getting by while many are not. That's not the type of country I want to leave to the next generation. Right now, we have a rare opportunity because of the majority in the House and Senate to finally make some real change. If we squander this opportunity because of tightly held ideals, the future will get worse, no two ways about it, because eventually there will be another civil war and families will be split because of it. So we can be known as the generation that wouldn't budge off of extremely bent ideals or the one who turned the corner by coming together, that is our legacy. We've made a big first step already in turning the corner, by electing an African-American president, though to those of us who don't judge by the color of skin, we elected probably the only candidate of this character we will see in our lifetime, a once in a generation candidate. And the fact that he's black helps it to maximize the force of change for all minorities, including poor white trash. :-D I'm serious, but joking also.

So here's a hit list of the key issues, in my mind, that need bi-partisan resolution and actually are ripe for us coming together. And if you have a hard time accepting one view, then look at it this way... what would you give up to get? In other words, what policy stance would you bend on or compromise on in order to get another one in your favor? Compromise is the operative word here. And I've broken things down into 3 easy categories. =-O

1) FINANCE - two key issues, one of which Obama is addressing for the short term, TAXES and THE FED. Taxes definitely need to be lowered for the middle class, screw corporate America. This should be the issue we can all agree on and make sweeping change, and it's the most important, and it affects our society and economy like no other. All tax cuts to companies that make record profits need to disappear, first of all. McCain really missed the boat on this one, big time. Record profits and he wants to give the oil companies more breaks?? The real solution to these issues is to go to the FAIR TAX and get rid of the FED altogether. We don't need to pay a private banker interest to be the middle man in our monetary system, this is a fraud and has been since it was instituted with the help of the private bankers in the early part of the century. And the FAIR TAX is just that, it places a tax on consumption and doesn't double dip the way our current progressive mafia style tax system does now. Can't we all get along on this one?? :-)

2) FOREIGN POLICY - well, I voted for Bush in 00' because he ran on a non-interventionist policy.. in other words, he lied to us. We don't need military bases around the world, I don't care what the neo-cons say, a few strategic bases to augment our allies is adequate, especially in a time of depression, but reality is that the world is smaller, different and manpower assets are changing from human to machine, so get our soldiers home. Can't we all get along on this one too?? or is it imperative to go around the world exerting our will unilaterally and ruining our reputation fighting some stupid antiquated 'holy war'?

3) STATE ISSUES - death penalty, abortion, drug war... all should be state issues, yet the federal government meddles in all of this... so again, who's the socialist leaning party?? The democrat stance on these says these are state issues, yet the republican stance says two of the three are federal issues, sort of ... hmmmm... and two of the three, abortion and the drug war are personal freedom issues that no government should have any say in, ironically that's where the fed meddles the most right now... the irony here is that the drug war is been waged on a lie ever since it began and the death penalty and abortion create contradictions on each side. The democrats generally are against the death penalty but for abortion... okay, so they are against killing murderers, but for killing babies... and republicans are for killing murderers and against killing babies. Well, at first glance it seems the republicans have those two issues won, as I used to think. I also used to believe that they were both wrong on these issues because of these contradictions in belief about life and death, meaning shouldn't we be for life or against it, was the question I asked myself. Is is really that simple. In my mind, for the most part, yes.. it's as simple as saying, "do I believe in life or death", because whatever we believe pervades our culture and affects other policies and beliefs. A culture of life would mean murderers would avoid the death penalty... which I have to admit was the hardest part of this decision for me to manage in my mind and heart... but we do talk about rehabilitation, don't we?? And part of what made me think about this differently is that I have a good friend who is serving a life sentence in Virginia for killing his girlfriend 14 years ago. He was one of my best friends and he was not a violent person, but for some reason, that night, he made an incredible mistake. I could never vote for him to be executed and I know that he is already or can be rehabilitated. And I know that he's a good person. On the issue of abortion, it was actually much simpler. I'm pro-life, but this is a decision for the mother and father of the child to make and if one trumps the other, it's the mother obviously. I think we should encourage pro-life alternatives to dealing with pregnancy, but we should not make abortion illegal as an option to deal with any number of circumstances such as rape, incest, disease and even something as simple as radiation from doctor visits. So a strict abortion policy mandated at the federal level is anything but a solution.

These state issues as I call them are the ones that seem to throw people up in arms the most, and understandably, but isn't that the reason they need to be on the state level and decided respectively? Again, can't we get along on this, minimally agreeing to them being state issues?? That way if you really feel so strongly about something you can move to a state and sub-culture that share your beliefs. And the country can be level headed in it's approach to offering up solutions to all Americans, not just the Republicans, neo-cons, redneck racists and religious fundamentalists in America.

1, 2, 3, can it be that simple?? If we humble ourselves and think about someone else besides ourself... "YES, WE CAN". (Trust me, I was a pretty selfish bastard with the full blinders on and I've managed to mature my views to be about something beyond just me, so anyone of us can, even you die-hard republicans!! :-[ )
Happy Post Election Day!

Tom